Video clips could help Nasa investigators

The US space agency (Nasa) has launched an online appeal to members of the public who possess images and video of the break-up of the space shuttle.

The space agency has set up a website through which people can submit any pictures or film they shot of the tragedy.

Anything submitted will be used in the investigation to help determine what went wrong.

The agency hopes that any evidence it can compile will aid its reconstruction of events during the last few moments of Columbia's flight.

File and format

Many organisations have used telephone tip lines that let members of the public submit information about crimes, disasters or other momentous events.

Nasa is extending this idea by turning to the web to help it investigate the causes of the shuttle tragedy.

The organisation has set up a website through which people can send in any images or video they shot of the shuttle breaking up in the skies over Texas on Saturday.

The agency has set up an anonymous file transfer server hosted by the Johnson Space Center that people can get access to by using their e-mail address as a password.

It is accepting data in Real Video and Jpeg and other formats. The agency is also asking people to add a text file describing when and where the images were shot.

Already, pictures of the shuttle take-off are coming under scrutiny because they show debris falling off the large external fuel tank and striking parts of the spacecraft as it left the launch pad.

Analysis of media files sent in by the public could provide further clues to the sequence of events during the last moments of Columbia's flight and help determine what went wrong.